Wuhan doctor whose skin turned dark due to coronavirus treatment sees his colour slowly returning to normal after beating the deadly disease

A Chinese doctor whose skin suddenly turned dark after he fell critically ill with coronavirus is seeing his colour returning to normal gradually.

Dr Yi Fan, who caught the virus through work in January, was reportedly discharged by a hospital in Wuhan last week after beating the killer infection.

A spokesperson said Dr Yi's abnormal skin tone was caused by an antibiotic he had received during the treatment.

Dr Yi's colleague Dr Hu Weifeng, whose skin also turned dark, was still hospitalised, according to the spokesperson.

Dr Yi and Dr Hu, both 42, caught the novel coronavirus while treating patients at the Wuhan Central Hospital nearly four months ago.

Footage released by Beijing TV Station shows both medics lying in their sickbeds with their dark skin on April 6 in Wuhan's Tongji Hospital.

A recent picture of Dr Yi shows the medic almost looking like his old self on May 9.

Prof Duan Jun, the deputy director of the Department of Critical Care Medicine at China-Japan Friendship Hospital, said the medical team had given Dr Yi and Dr Hu Polymyxin B, a last-resort antibiotic, during their treatment.

He said the drug had caused hyper-pigmentation in the doctors' body, but the condition would slowly disappear as they recovered, according to a televised clip of the briefing.

Previously, doctors thought that their abnormal skin colour was caused by hormonal imbalances after the virus had damaged their livers.

Dr Yi and Dr Hu were both diagnosed on January 18.

They are colleagues with late whistle-blower Li Wenliang, who was reprimanded by police for sounding the alarm of the virus and then died of the disease on February 7.

The pair were taken first to the Wuhan Pulmonary Hospital and then transferred to Tongji Hospital's Zhongfa Xincheng branch, according to Chinese state broadcaster CCTV.

Dr Yi, a cardiologist, saw his condition improved after doctors had hooked him to a life-support machine called ECMO for 39 days.

ECMO is a drastic life-support procedure which replaces the function of the heart and lungs by pumping oxygen into the blood outside the body.

Speaking to CCTV from his hospital bed on April 20, Dr Yi said he had mostly recovered.

He said he could move in bed normally, but was still struggling to walk independently.

Dr Yi confessed that the ordeal of battling the deadly disease had, to a certain degree, traumatised him.

He told a reporter: 'When I first gained conscious, especially after I got to know about my condition, I felt scared. I had nightmares often.'

He said he was trying to overcome the psychological hurdle. He added doctors often comforted him and had arranged counselling for him.

Footage released by Beijing TV Station shows Dr Zhan Qingyuan from China-Japan Friendship Hospital talking to Dr Yi and Dr Hu in their wards on April 6 in Tongji Hospital.

Beijing-based Dr Zhan had been treating the pair and was checking on them before he and his team left Wuhan and returned to the capital city.

Dr Yi told Dr Zhan he was recovering well and his wounds had largely healed while Dr Zhan told Dr Yi it was his responsibility to 'save his comrade'.

Dr Hu was not able to speak at the time due to his poor health, but he shook hands with Dr Zhan to express his gratitude.

Dr Hu's condition was more serious.

The urologist had been bed-bound for 99 days by late April, and his overall health was weak, said Dr Li Shusheng who treated Dr Hu.

Dr Li said he was worried about Dr Hu's mental health.

'He could not stop talking to the doctors who come to check on him,' Dr Li said.

Dr Hu underwent ECMO therapy from February 7 to March 22 and regained his ability to speak on April 11.

He was still recovering in hospital, said Prof Duan at the press conference on Saturday.

Ref: Daily Mail